A chart is a graphical representation of numerical data. Charts are particularly useful for presenting complicated data in a concise and easily-understandable form. In today's desktop publishing environment, users can create impressive presentations using charts. Charts are based on underlying data that is entered into an application program such as “EXCEL” from MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash. The underlying data can then be used to create a chart of the data in a number of different formats, such as pie-chart, bar-chart, histogram, line chart, etc. In addition, each part of the chart can have associated colors, textures, and other effects to improve the appearance of the chart, which is very important for conveying information.
The labels included in a chart contribute to the visual function and presentation of a chart. A chart with more than a few data points may become hard to read if the user activates an automated data label function. Generally, previously provided automated chart labeling algorithms result in overlapping text and positioning of labels that is not optimized to use the chart area. Accordingly, alternate methods are needed.